Meg Jay on Why 30 Is Not the New 20 (VIDEO)

If you haven’t yet seen this TED Talk by clinical psychologist Meg Jay, it’s worth a look. Jay brings up a lot of good points about issues that plague a fair number of us 20-something millennials.

What did you think?

At certain points during the talk, it felt like Jay was implying that career, marriage and children are the be-all and end-all of happiness — that it’s important to acquire them before time runs out. But she did say she’s “not discounting 20-something exploration,” so I may have interpreted that wrong.

I do think there’s a place for frivolity, bad decisions and recklessness, and that place is probably your 20s. All those things can be critical to identity formation, which Jay holds as very important.

I like the main takeaway: every moment matters and it’s foolish to procrastinate an entire decade of one’s life away in a state of extended adolescence because the 20s “don’t matter.” There’s nothing wrong with introducing a little urgency into the mix.